


How Hawkins Worked Together To Get Will Byers The Perfect Boyfriend He Deserved

by lofemawk



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gay Will Byers, Language, M/M, Will Byers Needs a Hug, elmax if you squint, maybe unrequited? idk, steve harrington being a mom, will smith is not will byers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-14 03:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12998595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lofemawk/pseuds/lofemawk
Summary: This is the story of how all of Will and Mike's friends pushed them towards each other.





	1. Steve

**Author's Note:**

> Steve Harrington had a habit of being thrust into situations he didn't know anything about and coming out victorious. First the monster thing--the demogorgon, as the kids called it--then playing babysitter for a bunch of shithead kids, and now being the matchmaker/love advisor for a bunch of angsty pubescent boys.

Steve Harrington wasn’t the most humble or self-aware guy around, but he understood that he was a pretty privileged person. He was a straight, white, wealthy, popular teenage boy who lived in a small town in the midwest. He had the beautiful and smart Nancy Wheeler as his girlfriend, a group of friends who, admittedly, had some asshole-ish tendencies, and a secure spot as team captain for his high school’s varsity basketball team. Sure, his grades weren’t the best, but he wasn’t flunking any of his classes and besides, he always had a cushy job working for his dad to fall back on if all else failed.

But then, some serious shit went down in ‘83 and ‘84. There was a weird kid who was in Nancy’s grade and was widely known as “The Weirdo” named Jonathan Byers. Byers’ little brother Will, who Steve didn’t even know existed except that he was Nancy’s little brother Mike’s friend, went missing. 

Because Steve Harrington is a complete idiot, he decided to have a little mini party while everyone was on the hunt for Will. It wasn’t anything major, just Nancy, her best friend Barbara, and his friends Tommy and Carol. They had some beer and jumped in the pool and he and Nancy went up to his room and had sex. Nothing major, right? Just a stupid party with stupid teenagers being stupid. 

Of course, that all went downhill when Nancy’s friend Barbara went missing and, as it turned out, Jonathan “The Weirdo” Byers was taking stalker-y photos of the party and captured the moment when Barb went missing.

This spurred a whole shit ton of drama in which Nancy took off with Jonathan and Steve got kinda jealous and his friends did some pretty jerkwad-y things but when Steve went back to apologize to Jonathan, he found Nancy at Jonathan’s house. Not only that, but the two of them seemed to be preparing for some kind of attack and Steve found himself face-to-face with some weird-ass monster.

To cut a very long and confusing story short (to be completely honest, Steve didn’t even really know the whole story because no one ever bothered to tell him anything), Jonathan got his little brother back, Steve got Nancy back, and everyone was happy. Except for Barb, who was very much dead, and Nancy’s brother Mike, who seemed really cut up (it was almost as if Mike adopted a weird psychic girl as a pet/tool to find Will and fell in love with her, but then she gave her life to kill the weird-ass monster from before. But, again, no one ever told Steve anything, so how would he know.).

So, for a year, it was all good. Steve ditched his asshole friends, continued going out with Nancy, and even stayed on reasonably friendly terms with Jonathan who, as it turned out, wasn’t that bad. When he wasn’t stalking Nancy and when his brother was safe, he was just a quiet, artistic kid with really good taste in music. A quiet, artistic kid with really good taste in music who maybe smoked weed in the bathroom after school but hey, Steve wasn’t judging.

But then the shitstorm that was November 1984 happened. Since no one ever told Steve anything, he was once again left to his own devices when he was elected as babysitter of Nancy’s little brother Mike and his shithead friends who seemed determined on rushing towards all possible danger. 

Cutting a once again very long story short, Will was apparently possessed by some dark force which caused him to do some pretty screwed-up shit before he was quite literally exorcised. God, could that kid ever catch a break? Meanwhile, Steve was beaten shitless by his popularity rival Billy Hargrove and while he was still unconscious, he was kidnapped by Mike and his group of ragtag 13-year-old nerd friends and illegally driven by Billy’s little sister Max to a hole leading to literal hell. Steve then had to save the kid’s asses while Mike’s apparently not-dead girlfriend closed the gate to an alternate universe that had been giving Will such a tough time. Nancy and Jonathan gave Barb justice, Mike’s girlfriend Jane was back, and everyone was happy. Except for Steve, who was dumped by Nancy for Jonathan, and Will, who was plagued with nightmares. Not that Steve could blame him. Also, Barb was still very much dead.

However, Steve was proud of himself for handling rejection so maturely. He didn’t pursue Nancy or hate Jonathan like past him probably would have. Instead, he devoted his time to educating the youth, namely Dustin Henderson, about everything from girls to hair. He was also no longer the king of Hawkins High, but one look at Billy Hargrove and the fawning pack of girls following him and he knew that he wasn’t too upset about leaving that behind. He also discovered that he had quite a knack for Dungeons and Dragons, and Steve the Strong was a semi-regular member of the party.

But there was one thing that kept nagging at Steve. Will Byers seemed to have fallen in love. Steve could just tell in the way Will’s eyes suddenly had this glimmer in them and how there was an extra bounce in his step. If this were any other 13-year-old, Steve would brush it off or tell Will to tell her how he felt. But he had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be that simple.

Since joining the party, Steve developed something of a soft spot for the Byers kid. Will was timid and shy, with soft, doe-like eyes and a dorky bowl cut and hand-me-down clothes. But he was also an incredible artist, and the sweetest kid Steve had ever met (hell, when Will first woke up after a well-deserved nap and was told what happened, he gave Steve a hug and thanked him for watching out for his friends. If that wasn’t child innocence at its purest, Steve didn’t know what was.). So Steve, who now considered himself a seasoned professional at giving thirteen year old boys love advice, decided to take matters into his own hands and have a heart-to-heart with this kid. 

It was surprisingly easy to secure a time to chat, since Will spent most of his time when he wasn’t at school or with friends in Castle Byers drawing. 

“Hey, Will,” Steve said, startling the kid. “Can I sit here?” Will nodded and scooched over. It was a tight fit, but Steve managed to squeeze in next to Will. They sat in awkward silence there for a minute or so, packed together like sardines, before Will got the ball rolling.

“I’m sorry that Jonathan took your girlfriend,” he said, peering up at Steve through his bangs. 

That was definitely not what Steve had in mind of what Will would say to him, but at least he wouldn’t have to steer the conversation to dating now. Steve feigned nonchalance. “Nah, it’s fine. Jonathan didn’t take her, she chose him. And you gotta let the girl choose.” 

Sensing that this was a good time to ask Will what was up, he pulled what he thought was a very smooth move. “What about you? Got an eye on any ladies?” Steve didn’t know why he said the next part, but it was out of his mouth before he could do anything about it. “Or gents?”

Will’s eyes widened so much that Steve was a little worried he might pull something. Just as Steve was starting to think of ways to backtrack into the no-splash zone, He noticed Will checking around him as if someone might be listening. He then leaned in with a cautious whisper. “You’re queer too?” He asked hopefully.

Shit.

In shock, Steve physically seized up, nearly knocking over one of the walls to Castle Byers. “No!” he shouted, his voice cracking embarrassingly. Will recoiled away, understandably terrified. Steve cleared his throat awkwardly. “N-no, I’m not.” 

It seemed like Will’s pupils actually dilated in fear. “B-but it’s fine if you are!” Steve hastily backtracked. “Really!” he said to Will’s still petrified but now a little uncertain face. Steve was now absolutely determined to make sure that Will accepted himself. He had gone through enough shit already, damnit. “Hey, look at me--no, don’t look away, I don’t bite--no, of course I won’t tell anyone--not even Jonathan--” 

Steve grabbed onto Will’s shoulders and made them lock eyes. “Listen, I don’t care if you’re qu--uh, you don’t like girls, okay? And if your friends and Joyce and Jonathan are as cool as you seem to think they are, they won’t care either. All of them risked their lives for you a couple times, and if they can’t accept you for this, then screw them!”

Will seemed to calm down a little. “B-but what about the bullies?”

“Well, fuck them!” Steve exclaimed. Will looked a little taken aback at the swear word, shrinking a little deeper into the corner he was in. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose, unsure of whether he should be gentler with this clearly traumatized kid or to just face facts. “Look, do you really wanna spend your whole life hiding who you are for a bunch of little assholes?” 

Will shook his head. “Damn right, you don’t,” Steve said. “So go and grab life by the balls and don’t let anyone stop you!” 

Just as Will looked like he was about to start getting riled up to go kick the world’s homophobic ass, Steve, the biggest idiot in Hawkins, fired one last question at him. “So, who’s the lucky man?”

It was as if Will actually deflated. His chest and stomach seemed to shrink back as his shoulders hunched forward in a mini-me version of Jonathan’s usual stance. He probably wasn’t about to go kicking the world’s homophobic ass anytime soon. As usual, Steve backpedalled a little too late. “Fuck, man, I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me anyth--”

“It’s Mike,” Will cut him off.

Steve was silent for just a little too long. “Ah,” He said.

More silence.

“I mean, the Wheelers, they’re pretty great,” Steve admitted. Will nodded in agreement. “They’re very, uh, honest, about their feelings, and, they’re very, um.”

“Cute?” Will suggested. Steve snapped his fingers and pointed at Will.

There was more silence, but it wasn't so deafening. 

“So, uh, you gonna tell him?” Steve prompted. Will shrugged.

“Maybe. He’s got Jane, but I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Okay.”


	2. A Good Fistfight and Some Lying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max Mayfield was never one for bullshit.

Like everything Max Mayfield did, her life turning upside down (heh...upside down) started with a good fistfight and some lying.

Until she was nine, her life was pretty great, filled with sunny beach days and road trips up the coast and ice cream. Her parents loved her, and though her mother was quite distant, her father made up for it by spoiling her rotten.

But then, two weeks after Max’s ninth birthday, she found out that her mother had been kissing a man who wasn’t dad. A few short days later, her parents sat down and told her that they both loved her, but they didn’t love each other anymore and they were going to do something called “divorce,” where they un-married. 

Neil, her mother’s new boyfriend, was “a passionate and fiery man, but he had a good heart,” according to her mother. Max had yet to see this “good heart”, and she only saw the drunk nights and heard the screaming between her mother and Neil. It didn’t help that Neil had a son, Billy, who was in the eighth grade and liked to burn ants with a magnifying glass and shove Max into the pool. 

So Max tried to stay out of the house. She never had many friends, so she decided to attach herself to a group of girls to hang out with after school. Her self-respect wasn’t gone, so she refused to talk to the catty, popular girls in her class. Instead, she joined a group of fifth grade girls who skipped class and ground up Smarties and inhaled them and, one time, shared a can of beer that was shoplifted from a drugstore. She was content being their little fourth-grader pet, and she swore when they dared her to, and she even learned to drive in the dingy parking lot behind one of the girl’s apartment buildings. 

This friend group wasn’t bad. It was actually kinda fun. Through these girls was how Max became such a badass at video games. She was nowhere near as good as Emma Hill, the best Dig Dug player the world had ever seen, but she was the second best and, being the youngest, that wasn’t too bad. They also taught her how to skateboard and win a fist fight, and from then on she was Max, the undefeated champion of Paul Revere Elementary School. 

But when Max didn’t want to sip the Jack Daniels that Jessica Maple swiped from her dad’s booze stash or take a puff from a stolen cigarette, they would laugh and call her a baby and spit on the ground near her feet. 

For better or worse, she stayed with these girls until seventh grade. The summer before eighth grade, however, was when her mother married Neil. Max was already spending five days a week with her mother and Neil, only going to her dad on the weekends, but when Neil plunked moving to Indiana on them, to “start fresh” away from Max’s dad. As if he was the problem. 

So, in October of 1984, Max and her family set off on an obnoxiously long road trip to Hawkins, Indiana. 

Before her first week of school was out, Max had already established that there was a boy on her trail. Well, two boys. Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair. Both of them seemed to take an interest in her, and they very awkwardly asked her to come trick-or-treating with them. Despite them kind of stalking her, she liked them. It was endearing how awkward they were, being the only ones dressed up for Halloween in the whole school. Of course, she didn’t let that on, and instead of agreeing to come trick-or-treating with them, she instead grabbed a mask and went to scare them shitless. It worked, and the three of them along with Mike and Will, the two other boys in the friend group, all went on their merry trick-or-treating way.

At least, until Will had some sort of panic attack and was practically carried home by Mike. Max didn’t get the feeling that Mike liked her too much. While Max, Dustin, and Lucas continued to make their rounds around Loch Nora, the rich people neighborhood, Max was told that last year, Will had spent a week missing in the woods and he still got flashbacks that would leave him often in tears in a corner. 

So they finished Halloween night with an epic candy haul and went their separate ways. For the first time since her group of girlfriends in California, she felt like she had friends. It was nice.

However, the closer she got to the group, the colder Mike was to her. And since Mike seemed to be the undisputed leader of the pack, there was only so close she could get. So even though she was there as Will spiralled down into a terrifying black hole in his mind, she wasn’t accepted as a part of the group.

But it changed, as usual, with a good fistfight and some lying. When she was told what really happened to Will and helped with the Demodog attack in the junkyard, she ended up at Will’s house with Mike, Dustin, and Lucas while all hell was breaking loose since the famous El that everyone was talking about not only returned, but gave Max a cold shoulder and went to save their asses. Also, Mike’s sister’s ex-boyfriend Steve Harrington was there, babysitting the kids and preventing them from doing anything.

Until Billy showed up. Steve lied and said that Max wasn’t there, but Billy saw her and nearly killed Steve in a fistfight before Max injected him with sleeping drugs and nearly castrated him with a bat with nails hammered into it. 

Then Max took his keys and drove Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and an unconscious Steve to go burn Hell down.

It was this act, driving the boys to the hole, that sealed her into the group. Despite pretending not to care what the others thought of her, she couldn’t help but feel supremely smug as she stopped the car and heard Mike say, “incredible,” almost to himself. She had half a mind to snap back with something witty about not being so annoying, huh Mike?, but she instead chose to simply deadpan, “See? Zoomer,” in a monotone voice.

And so after that, once El came back and Will was baked alive but somehow survived, they became fast friends. Since there wasn’t an actual zoomer in Dungeons and Dragons, Max was given the role of a rogue, and the Red Rogue was in integral part of the party from then on (Mike had insisted that “Mad Max” wasn’t “medieval” enough, and so she had to come up with another name.). 

Another reason why Mike seemed more chipper was the El was back. There was a kind of connection between the two, and though Mike was irritatingly clingy for the first month after El was allowed to roam free, it calmed down into something more manageable.

But recently, Max started to notice a shift in the Mike/El dynamic. Mike seemed more distant from El, and since El was clueless to social cues she didn’t notice. Never one to stray away from things, Max faced this head-on and confronted Mike about it after school. 

“What’s going on with you and El?” She asked. Mike was walking his bike along the sidewalk, so Max got off her skateboard so she didn’t rush past him.

“Nothing,” he said lamely. Max resisted the urge to hit him over the head.

“I’m not stupid, you know.”

“I know.”

Max parked herself in Mike’s path. “You don’t like her anymore. Or, you do, but not in a crush kind of way.”

Mike decided that it was pointless to argue. “You’re right. Now can I keep walking?”

Max moved out of the way and they continued to walk. “Is it because you like someone else?” Mike shrugged unconvincingly. Then he looked up and Max followed his gaze to the back of Joyce’s car. “Holy shit, do you like Will?” 

Mike turned bright red. “No...yes...I don’t know.” 

Max nodded, though Mike wasn’t looking at her. “You know, if you do, we won’t care.” 

Mike turned to her and grinned, a lopsided smile full of relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love comments. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Or, go check out my Tumblr @lofe-mawk and talk with me there!


	3. Sleepovers are Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dustin decided that he really needed to spend more time with Will.

Sleepovers were fun. Especially for the incredibly sociable Dustin Henderson. It was a dream come true, getting to hang out with your friends all night long (even if they told you to shut up and go to sleep around one in the morning). It also helped because Dustin, like everyone else in the party, got pretty bad nightmares. For a while, each of them kept it to themselves because they thought they were the only one, until one fateful sleepover where everyone was terrified to fall asleep and, like a dam breaking, everyone spilled all their nightmares and worries out to each other.  
However, it had been years since Dustin had had a one-on-one sleepover with Will. With Lucas all the time, and with Mike fairly regularly, but for some reason, not with Will. So, needless to say, Dustin was pretty excited when plans were made for Will to sleep over at his house.

So they biked back to his house, Will used his phone to call his mom and tell her that he made it to Dustin’s house, and the two of them started on their homework. By the time that Dustin’s mom came back from work, the two were in a heated chess match on the carpet. Will was laying on his stomach and propped up on his elbows, and Dustin’s new cat Tews was curled up asleep in the small of his back. 

After a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Dustin and Will brushed their teeth in a very inefficient, elbow-knocking style before changing into pajamas and setting up camp in Dustin’s room. They stayed up for a bit, chatting about nothing, before Will gave an impressively long and loud yawn and Dustin turned out the light.

He wasn’t sure when he woke up again, but Dustin found himself awake to the sound of gasping and sobbing coming from the bathroom. He glanced over and saw that Will wasn’t in his sleeping bag on the floor.

For some reason, Dustin’s mind immediately went to Dart. Holy shit, what if Dart was back and he came out of the tunnels and he tracked down Dustin’s house and now he was going to break in and eat all of Dustin’s nougat and holy shit, Lucas would kill him.

Before Dustin had a plan sorted out, he got out of bed and made his way down the hall to the bathroom. The door wasn’t locked, so he just opened the door because Will would probably tell him to go away.

Jesus Christ, Will was in bad shape. He was kneeling over the toilet vomiting, with tears streaming down his face. Dustin was quite possibly the least caring, maternal kid in their friend group, so he was in no way prepared for a sick Will, having had no siblings and no babysitting experience. As awful as it was, part of him hoped that Will was vomiting interdimensional slugs again, because at least then Dustin would have something to. Shit, Will had noticed him. Quick, what would Steve do?

Dustin kneeled next to Will and slowly placed a hand on Will’s back. 

The awkwardness physically hurt, but Dustin was in too deep now, so he stiffly moved his hand up and down on Will’s shoulder blades and tried to not scrunch up his face and turn away as Will finished vomiting. When it seemed like he was done, Dustin hurried and got him some water from the tap, which he drank gratefully.

“Sorry,” he panted, putting down the empty cup. “I just had...a nightmare. I’m fine now.”

He was definitely not fine. Though he wasn’t puking anymore, he was still shaking and hiccuping from sobs. “Do you want me to call your mom?” Dustin asked. Will shook his head.

“She’ll just freak out. I’m fine, really.”

Dustin wanted to point out that whatever Will dreamed about was bad enough to make him physically ill, and that certainly warranted freaking out, but he decided not to. Instead, he sat down on the tile next to Will. “D’you wanna tell me what you dreamed about?”

To Dustin’s surprise, Will blushed. He stammered for a moment before deciding on the right words. “I-i-it was Mike.” Dustin waited for him to go on. “It was Mike, but he wasn’t really Mike, and he said that he hated me and he wanted me to die and he liked me better in the Upside Down and suddenly I was there and Mike was there too but then Mike became the Demogorgon and it was just so cold and I was running but then the Mind Flayer was there and…” Will gasped for breath. He had started crying again. Shit.

Dustin very awkwardly placed his hand on Will’s shoulder, but the way Will leaned into the touch made Dustin’s almost nonexistent Mother Duck instincts to come out and he wrapped his arm around Will.

They sat like that for a while on the bathroom floor until Dustin looked over and saw that Will had fallen asleep again. As carefully and gently as he could, he picked Will up and carried him back to his sleeping bag before getting back into his bed.

It took Dustin a while to fall back asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love getting comments. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Or, go check out my Tumblr @lofe-mawk and talk to me over there!


	4. Papa Lucas on the Case

“Dude, do you think that Mike and Will are, like, a thing? Over,” Dustin chirped from the Supercomm. Lucas looked over to his bed where the Supercomm sat.

“Uh...why?” Lucas responded. “Over.” Dustin went on to explain what had happened at their house with the nightmare, and how Will had a nightmare about Mike and it made him blush. “I don’t know, man,” Lucas said after a pause. “Max told me that she had a talk with Mike and that he said he thinks he maybe likes Will? So there’s that. Over.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment. Then, “Shit, I gotta go. Over and out.”

So Lucas was left on his own. Normally, he didn’t pay much attention to crushes and dating. He had Max and despite Max refusing to put a label on it, he was pretty sure they were a couple. But this was too much to pass up. He didn’t know anything about queers, or if his friends were, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t care if they were. They were still Mike and Will, it didn’t really matter who they liked.   
But Lucas was never one to turn down a good interrogation, so in record time he was running down his driveway towards Mike’s house.

It was Nancy who answered the door, and she called for Mike with an earsplitting cry of “MIKE! YOUR FRIEND’S HERE!” Mike came downstairs pulled Lucas inside before Nancy had a chance to call for him again.

“Uh, hi! Lucas! What’s up?”

Not one to be delicate with things, Lucas launched right in. He told Mike about what Dustin told him about the nightmare and what Max said, leaving Mike in stunned shock. 

“I...uh...well…” Mike spluttered for a bit. “Max shouldn’t have told Dustin that!”

Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose the way his parents did when Erica was being difficult. “Listen, if Max hadn’t told us and gotten us involved, you and Will would never talk to each other about this. Do you really wanna live a sad, unfulfilled life wondering what could have been?”

Mike spent another minute stammering. “Well, she still shouldn’t have told you!”

“Are you two really this slow?”

“What?”

“Mike, come on. Do you really see yourself having heart-to-hearts with Will talking about your feelings?”

“No, but--”

“That’s why you need Papa Lucas on the case.”

It was Mike’s turn to cringe. “Did you really just call yourself Papa Lucas?”

“Just...talk to him. Ask him on a date. Or something. He clearly likes you.”

Mike paced around his room for a while. “All right. Fine. I’ll talk to him soon. Should I, like, write an outline for what to say?”

Lucas gave a long-suffering sigh. “Man, do what you want. Just don’t screw things up with Will. It’s gonna make DnD campaigns really awkward if you two hate each other.”

Mike managed a smile as he walked Lucas down to the front door. “Well, bye,” he said. Lucas set off on his bike, managing a wave in Mike’s direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up with those sweet sweet comments! 
> 
> My Tumblr is @lofe-mawk so check me out there. I talk about how dogs and reblog funny memes.


	5. Ostrich Feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eleven gets mad and learns something new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick PSA: I am in Southern California with some friends right now and we are on evacuation warning from the Thomas Fire. We're packing up in case things get more severe, but we're probably going to be okay. If any of you in Southern California are at risk, please go stay with friends in other parts of California or even out of the state. I am here if anyone wants to talk they can head over to my Tumblr or leave a comment on one of these chapters. Good luck to all and enjoy.

Eleven stormed up to Max’s front door one night and knocked hard enough that her knuckle bones were probably bruised. She could have just used her powers to slam the door open, but Hopper had been very clear about no powers unless your life is on the line. 

Max opened the door a few minutes later, pajama-clad with rumpled hair, and looked incredibly confused as to why Eleven was there in the middle of the night, in tears and looking angry enough to murder her. Eleven shoved her shoulder, then again, then again and again until Max grabbed her hand mid-shove. “Whoa! El, what the hell’s wrong with you?”

El wrenched her hand free from Max’s hand. “You took Mike,” she practically shouted. “He doesn’t like me anymore!”

Max sighed and shut the door behind her, sitting on the front steps of the house. Reluctantly, Eleven joined her. Max finally got it wheedled out of her what had happened. After Mike’s talk with Eleven, he had broken up with her with some bitchy reason like we’re better as friends. Eleven was predictably upset and went to interrogate Lucas and Dustin, who said that he had a talk with Max. Hence why Eleven was at Max’s house at half-past one in the morning in a fit of rage.

Max dug her hands into her hair. “El, Mike didn’t leave you...for me. I didn’t even know he left you. He...God, he might not want you to tell me…” the look on El’s face was enough to scare Max into spilling her deepest darkest secrets. “Okay, stop looking at me like that. He...he likes someone else.”

This did nothing to soothe El’s rage. “Who is it?”

“Does that matter?”

“Just tell me,” Eleven said through gritted teeth.

“Fine, just...don’t murder him, okay? It’s Will.”

Eleven stared blankly at Max for a minute. “That’s not funny,” she said. “Tell me.”

Max lifted her hands in defense. “What? I told you! He likes Will.”

Eleven’s deadpan look turned into one of confusion. “He...can’t like Will. Will’s a boy.”

Max sighed. “Eleven, boys...can like other boys. Some people think it’s bad, but it’s really not. It’s called being gay, though I’m pretty sure there’s other types, like if someone likes both boys and girls, like Mike.”

“Can girls like other girls?”

“Sure.”

“Do you?”

“What? No. At least, I don’t think so. I’ve never had a crush on a girl, but I don’t think that it’s bad and if a girl asked me on a date I might say yes if I didn’t hate her but no, I don’t think I like girls. At least, not just girls.”

Eleven turned and looked out into the night, processing all this new information. 

“Hey, shouldn’t you go home? Hopper’ll kill you if he finds out you were out at night.” Eleven nodded and stood, starting to walk noiselessly into the night. Max stood and turned to go inside, but suddenly Eleven was running back. She wrapped Max into a hug.

“I’m sorry I hit you,” she whispered into Max’s ear. Max returned the hug, and Eleven turned back around and started sprinting back towards the Cabin.

The next day, while Hopper was at work, El went back to Mike’s house. She went in through the basement to avoid Nancy busting her eardrums calling for Mike, and found that he was sitting in her fort doing homework. He answered the door immediately, but he did look a little terrified of El despite her hard work to maintain a peaceful expression.

“Uh...hi...El,” he said slowly. “Is everything...okay?”

El nodded. “Max told me. About Will.”

Mike curled into a ball on the floor and buried his face in his hands. “Jesus Christ, does everyone know?”

El placed a hand on Mike’s back. “It’s okay,” she said. She wasn’t talking about being dumped--that was still very much not okay in her book--but she respected Mike enough to let him to his own thing and hey, Will wasn’t that bad. Respectable competition and all that. 

Mike wrapped his arms around El’s legs like a child and El, stifling a laugh, sat down next to him and hugged him close. She would of course be bitter about being dumped for some time, what fourteen year old girl wouldn’t, but she could get over it and maybe find another boy. Or, maybe, a girl.   
Next on Eleven’s list was to go talk to Will. When she got to Will’s house, she was greeted by Chester barking happily and Jonathan letting her in, since Joyce was at work. Will was in his room, listening to The Clash and drawing as usual. Eleven sat on the bed next to Will as he put down his colored pencils and leaned over to turn off the music.

“Hey, El. What’s up?”

El explained about being dumped, about her late-night talk with Max, and her closing things off with Mike. In return, Will told her about his talk with Steve. Like Steve, El asked if he was going to tell Mike. He had a vote of confidence from Mike literally admitting his feelings, so he squared his shoulders, looked El straight in the eye, and told her yes. He wouldn’t bury his head in the sand anymore.


	6. Questions and Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mike straps on his big-boy balls and has a talk with Will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAND I'm back! Sorry I've been gone for a bit, I've been evacuated for the past week and staying on friend's couches. Fires SUCK. Anyhoo, I'm back with another chapter for you hungry hungry hippos. Enjoy!

Mike had, he hoped, come out of the angry, emotional turtle shell he had built around himself during the year that El was gone. He wasn’t mad at his friends when they laughed and jumped around and bickered good-naturedly, he just felt like it was wrong. How could they be so happy when El was out there, possibly cold and alone. Possibly even dead. No, Mike didn’t allow himself to think like that. He didn’t allow himself to because he genuinely didn’t think he’d be able to take it if Eleven was really, truly dead. 

So when she came back, Mike spent the first few months alternating between fuming angrily at Hopper and pestering him to tell him where El was. Hopper refused, and Mike spent seven months knowing that Eleven was alive and in Hawkins, but that he couldn’t see her.

Finally, Dr. Owens gave the okay and Mike and his friends set up a welcome home party in the basement. Okay, it was really just an excuse to introduce Max and Eleven to DnD and they had a 13-hour campaign before Karen decided enough was enough.

After that, Mike tried to not be too clingy--sure, he went over to Hopper’s cabin every day after school--but things gradually mellowed out.

But also, Mike started to notice little things more. Like how when the sun was just right it made a soft halo of light on Will’s hair. Or how long his eyelashes were. Or how his laughter was contagious and left everyone in a fit of giggles. He started to want to be around Will more. And when he and Eleven kissed for the third time, that spark was gone.

So when Max confronted him about it, it forced him to confront his own feelings. So he liked Will. So what? 

And breaking things off with El was...well, not easy, but it didn’t seem like he’d turned El off of love forever. That was good, because Mike wasn’t sure how well El would handle rejection. He had tried to keep the douchiness of the entire debacle to a minimum. He was, he hoped, respectful and clear that they could remain friends if El wanted. 

So after he heard from Lucas about the nightmare, it felt too good to be true. He tried to catch Will alone, but all of his friends seemed determined to see everything unfold. It took Steve to shout to _come help me at the shop, dipshits_. to get Max, Lucas, Dustin, and El to leave them alone. Steve shot Mike an encouraging thumbs-up before he drove the dipshits to his dad’s auto body shop. 

Oh boy. This was the hard part. Will and Mike usually biked home together since Max usually went with Steve to help at the shop to stay away from her step-dad for longer, Lucas usually went wherever Max was, and Dustin liked to interrogate Steve about Farrah Fawcett spray. Hopper begrudgingly let Steve take her home when he had work, and that just left Mike and Will to head home. 

“Hey, so…” Mike started as they walked their bikes off campus. “I was wondering...if...you wanted to see Back To The Future?”

Will smiled. “Sure! When is the group free?”

“What?” Mike said, confused. “Oh. _Oh_.. No, I meant...like, just you and me. Like...a date. To Gentry’s Theater on Main Street?”

Will blushed, but smiled. “Did you just ask me on a date to the theater where your sister works?” 

Mike felt himself flushing. “Well, I’m not doing it for the discount. I mean, I am using the discount, but I wanted to go because...well, because I like you.” There. He said it. 

Will grinned again. “I would love to,” he said. He briefly glanced around to make sure there was no one looking, then he stood on his tiptoes and brushed a ghost of a kiss on Mike’s cheek. Then, he mounted his bike and pedaled off towards his house. 

The spot where his lips touched Mike’s cheek burned, and Mike found himself running his fingers over the spot as he biked home.


	7. Endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Will and Mike watch Back To The Future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Two chapters in one day? Yeah, baby! Forced evacuation does wonders for your imagination. Enjoy!

“Son of a bitch, man, you look fine!” Dustin exclaimed for the fourth time from Will’s bed. Will knew this was entirely irrational. Mike saw him every day, today was no different. 

But it was. Because this was a date. Thinking that brought a smile to Will’s lips. 

“He’s right,” El said from her seat on Will’s bed next to Dustin. “You look great.” El had started chewing gum after she saw Max doing it, but she hadn’t really mastered subtlety yet so the lip-smacking chomps sounded like she was devouring a small animal. 

Will was wearing a pair of blue jeans—new ones, not hand-me-downs like most of his clothes were—and a sweater that Mike once said he liked. Granted, Mike was conditioned by his mother and sister to like dorky sweaters, but he thought this one was nice, so it was what Will was gonna wear. He agonized over two different pairs of shoes before deciding on his Chuck Taylors. They were originally black, but after one horrific summer afternoon when Will tried to bleach them, they turned a sort of salmon orange-ish color that Will liked. It reminded him of sunsets. According to Dustin, his bowl cut was “past saving, but Mike has liked you for a while so you’ll probably be fine.”

Will was just about to change the undershirt he was wearing under the sweater (“God dammit,” Dustin had sighed) when he heard a knock at the door. El gave a little squeal and bounced excitedly on Will’s bed as Dustin went to answer the door. Will vaguely heard Dustin greeting Mike before he got up to face the music. Jonathan was at work and Joyce was on a date with Hopper, so it was just the kids at home. 

He felt a hand on his wrist. El smiled encouragingly at him before whispering, “he likes holding hands.” Will gave her a grin. 

“I’m sorry about...all this,” Will said. 

“Don’t be. We both kind of wanted this.”

Will furrowed his brow. “Do you like someone?”

El smiled a tight-lipped smile. “Tonight’s for you,” she said, giving Will a gentle push out his bedroom door. 

Will would’ve pondered over El’s cryptic response, but Mike was there and that was enough to wipe his mind of all rational thought. 

After knowing Mike for ten years, seeing him still filled him with a sweet ache of wanting, but never being able to have. But now, with Mike standing in the doorway, looking just a bit flustered because of _Will_ , that ache turned into electricity that coursed through his veins and pooled in his stomach in a bundle of excited nerves. 

“Hi,” Will said. His throat had gone dry. 

The corner of Mike’s mouth turned up a bit. “Hi.” 

There was a moment of awkward silence. Dustin and El gripping each other excitedly behind Mike wasn’t really helping much. Mike cleared his throat. 

“We should...we should get going. The movie.”

Will nodded and followed Mike out of the house, grabbing his bike as Mike got on his. 

It wasn’t far to the movie theater, and once the boys were alone their usual easy banter passed the time. Nancy was working a shift at the concession stand, and she shot Mike a sly wink as she handed him the tickets along with a bucket of popcorn. 

The movie was good, but Will couldn’t pay attention to it because his gaze was fixed on Mike. He felt like he should do something. What did couples do? Were they a couple? 

_He likes holding hands._

Will slowly edged his hand closer to Mike’s, which was resting on the armrest. Before he had time to talk himself out of it, he laced his fingers with Mike’s. Mike continued to look at the screen, but Will thought he saw some blush across Mike’s cheeks. 

After the movie, the two pedaled back to Will’s house as they discussed time travel and _would there really be that many Jaws movies by 2015?_ It was as if it was any other outing. Not a date. 

Until they stopped in front of Will’s house. Will could see light behind a drawn curtain as Mike pushed down his kickstand and turned to face Will. 

“I liked tonight,” Mike said. 

“Yeah,” Will responded, feeling strangely out of breath. “The movie was...good. It was really...uh, good.”

Mike gave a small smile. Only then was Will aware of how close they were standing. “Tell Nancy thanks for the tickets. And the popcorn. Um.” Will stammered. He shouldn’t be this awkward. Not around Mike, his oldest friend. But Mike was _right there_ and giving Will that _look_ , like he was memorizing Will’s face just in case he was taken again. His lips were slightly parted and their faces were close, so close that Will could feel Mike’s breath hot on his lips. 

Mike closed the space between them and _oh_. 

Many times, possibly more than he cared to admit, Will had imagined this kiss. But his imagination paled in comparison to the real thing. Mike’s lips were warm against his, and Will was pretty sure he should have closed his eyes, but he was mesmerized with watching Mike up close, his eyelashes fluttering and his nose brushing against Will’s and a tinge of redness emerging on his cheekbones. The kiss was sloppy and Will didn’t know how to move his lips, or if he should have, but Mike was in charge so Will allowed himself to close his eyes. He smelled Mike’s shampoo and the stiffly clean smell of freshly laundered clothes. 

The kiss lingered and was only broken when Will took a needy inhale. Mike opened his eyes and bit at his lower lip in a way that Will hadn’t noticed him do before. His lips were swollen and red. 

“Good night,” he whispered. Will licked his lips. 

“Uh, yeah. G-good night. I’ll, um, see you tomorrow?”

Mike smiled. “Yeah.” 

Will watched him ride off towards his house in a bit of a daze, before bringing trembling fingers up to his lips and smiling. Holy shit, he kissed Mike Wheeler. 

He did a dorky little victory dance in place before he turned and ran into his house. Inside, Jonathan, El, and Max were sitting in the living room watching TV. Jonathan was sprawled in the sofa while El and Max were curled up next to each other in the armchair. Max had her hair in a sloppy braid, held in place with the blue hair tie El always wore around her wrist. Huh. Will would have to ask El about that later. 

Jonathan bent his legs to make room for Will to sit. “How was it?” He asked. 

“Pretty good,” Will responded. El and Max looked like they wanted to ask him more questions, but one look at his dazed expression and swollen lips told them all they needed to know. 

Elsewhere in Hawkins, Mike was sitting in the basement with Steve, Dustin, and Lucas. He has told them about the kiss, and Dustin and Lucas high-fived each other and Steve begrudgingly handed over ten bucks.

By the time Will showered and changed into pajamas, Max had left and El, who had been staying over quite a bit since Joyce and Hopper got together, was sitting cross-legged on the floor wearing one of Jonathan’s T-shirts as pajamas. She was eating from a jar of peanut butter with a spoon, and Jonathan was eating a piece of toast spread thickly with the same spread. Both were intently watching the TV. El was mouthing words she didn’t know, words like _republican_ and _presidential_ while Jonathan was scoffing at the man who was speaking on the screen. Will got a spoon from the drawer and sat down next to El, taking the jar from her to scoop a generous glob of peanut butter. Will noticed that the blue hair tie was back on El’s wrist, and two strands of red hair that had been pulled from Max’s head as she undid the braid wound themselves around the blue elastic. 

The three sat in comfortable silence for a while until Joyce and Hopper came home. Hopper was about ready to take El home, but when he saw how comfortable she was in Jonathan’s oversized shirt nursing her peanut butter, he chuckled and said she could spend the night. She and Will brushed their teeth and set up camp in Will’s bedroom, which basically meant moving Will’s mattress onto the floor and piling blankets onto it. The two of them snuggled cozily together on the mattress, and for the first time in a long time, Will had no nightmares that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man. I cannot believe that I finished this thing! This was my first ever fanfiction that was longer than one chapter, and I am really freaking proud of myself. 
> 
> The cute Jonathan/Will/El bonding at the end with the peanut butter is a reference to one of the first Stranger Things fanfictions I read, titled Peanut Butter Byers. Shoutout to @theamiableanachronism, you da real MVP!
> 
> I really wanted to write in a hint of Elmax, or the ship that could never be canon but let me dream, okay!  
> (Also this might be foreshadowing to my next work?????)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and I hope I did the kiss justice, since I have never actually kissed anyone before. Yes, I am 16 and a half and I still have not sucked face with anyone. I fucking want to.

**Author's Note:**

> I love getting comments. They really do make my day (or, usually, night, since I have serious problems). Let me know what you think of my writing!
> 
> Or, check me out on tumblr to let me know what you think! Username: @lofe-mawk


End file.
